No legal bar in appointing 32,000 govt primary school head teachers

The Supreme Court has ruled that there is no obstacle in appointing head teachers in about 32,000 government primary schools in the country. 

The four-member Appellate Division led by Chief Justice Zubair Rahman Chowdhury gave this ruling on Thursday. 

Consequently, the obstacle in the appointment process that was stuck in legal complications 13 years ago has been removed.

Attorney General Barrister Ruhul Quddus Kazal was present in the court on the day. 

He said, “The government acquired 26,000 private primary schools in 2013. At that time, the government enacted a law. That law said that everyone from the acquired schools can join. Those who join, including the headmaster, will be considered as assistant teachers. That is, even if they previously served as headmasters, everyone will join as assistant teachers according to the law. At that time, they accepted that. But there was a provision in that law where it was said that those who will be directly appointed will have their serial number above them. And those who came from the acquired private schools will have their serial number below them and the service they had done in the previous period, the pension will be calculated at 50 percent in calculating the service period, in terms of pension, in terms of gratuity. They said — No, we were headmasters before, we will still be headmasters. We have seniority so far, why will we be counted at 50 percent? And they said — Even if 50 percent is counted, these will also be the case for our promotions. They filed a writ petition in the High Court. The High Court ruled that they were given back according to the serial number, and this law was annulled. The government appealed against the annulment of this law. Today, the Appellate Division annulled the High Court’s verdict.”

As a result, the government will be able to appoint head teachers in about 32,000 primary schools, said the Attorney General.

Regarding the increase from 26,000 to 32,000, the Attorney General said, “Many government primary school teachers have retired. They have not been appointed. With this 26,000, the number has increased from 2013 to today to 32,000. These are all government primary schools.”

Earlier in 2017, a High Court writ was filed demanding seniority, scale as head teacher and various financial and administrative benefits by preparing a gradation list based on 50 percent of the service period. 

The High Court issued a rule in that writ petition. Later, after hearing the rule, the High Court partially approved the rule on March 11, 2019. The state appealed to the Appellate Division against that verdict. The Appellate Division granted that appeal on Thursday.